One With NASA, One With Missile Defense Agency

It's not a huge contract -- at least, not yet. But it seems to have major technological promise.

Proton Energy Systems, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. says it's gotten the nod for a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)to develop lightweight regenerative fuel cell technology. The new technology will be used in unmanned aerial vehicles. Proton also announced the award of a SBIR Phase I contract from the US Army Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, for development of lightweight regenerative fuel cell technology for high altitude airships.

The NASA Phase II contract goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing and operating lightweight unitized regenerative fuel cell hardware to meet the needs of aerospace applications. Proton's regenerative fuel cell design incorporates the Company's core commercial hydrogen generator technology with a fuel cell design, which is capable of generating its own hydrogen at pressure. Building upon the Phase II work, the ultimate design goal specified by NASA is to fill a need for very high energy density energy storage systems for unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAV, flight platforms. NASA intends for these UAVs to perform missions in the areas of terrestrial observation and earth science.

The goal of the Phase I contract with MDA is to achieve key milestones that demonstrate the possibility of manufacturing lightweight regenerative fuel cell hardware to meet the needs of high altitude airships. The ultimate design goal is to develop and demonstrate a hydrogen/oxygen regenerative fuel cell with lightweight packaging capable of high-pressure hydrogen and oxygen generation and multi-kilowatt power output.

The MDA contract is part of a Department of Defense initiative to develop a lighter than air, high altitude airship Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration, or ACTD, prototype. According to the Missile Defense Agency, this ACTD plans to demonstrate the engineering feasibility and potential military utility of an unmanned, un-tethered, gas filled, solar-powered airship that can fly at 70,000 ft.

Proton's completion of previous NASA SBIR Phase I and Phase II contracts, as well as its ongoing contract with the Naval Research Laboratory funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, facilitated the demonstration of zero-gravity unitized regenerative fuel cell operation as well as the ability to electrolyze water to generate hydrogen and oxygen gases at pressures exceeding 3,000 psi. Proton's HIPRESS™, a solid-state electrolysis cell stack design, made the efficient compression of these gases possible, a key feature in high energy aerospace density applications.

The NASA SBIR Phase II contract award is valued at $599,160 over two years. The award is based on Proton's progress against key milestones in the SBIR Phase I contract. The MDA SBIR Phase I contract is valued at $69,865 with a 6-month period of performance.

FMI: www.protonenergy.com